I love these old books….

I love these old books:

All of them describe a way of living and looking at plants, that is, for the most part, disappearing from our modern way of life.

It is very, very rare that the ordinary housewife would go out into the country-side or even her own garden, and pick greenery [that other people may term as weeds] and use them to either add to her family’s diet, or use as a simple medicine when someone is ill….

When I was younger I always wondered what a mother would do before the advent of free health care and the NHS, if her children were sick. I used to read English social history books and I unearthed some very interesting folk lore about self-help cures, how to make blackberry syrups for coughs and colds and nettle vinegar as a spring tonic. I was even more surprised to learn that in the modern world there were places that taught students how to use plants as a proper system of medicine. So I signed up. I spent years getting a degree in herbal medicine, learning about scientific studies, research, systems of examination, microbiology, botany, immunology, biochemistry, pharmacology, ethnobotany, evidence-based medicine, pathology, differential diagnosis and more… and yet, there is still something to be learnt from these old books. It’s a way of looking at plants that treats them as an integral part of human existence, something that we need to keep us in good health, and to steer us back to health when we have lost it. We mustn’t forget these old books, and the knowledge that they contain. They are part of what keeps the wisdom and practicality of herbal medicine alive…

If you are interested in training to be a professional medical herbalist, using plants as medicine, then visit our website and blog for more details: